Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant says players will tough out the NBA labour dispute
NBA super star Kevin Durant doesn’t think the players are likely to give in to the owners in the NBA labour dispute. He believes that the players will stick together, even if the NBA games are lost.
The league and the players have been embroiled in the dispute for a new CBA for a long while now. The NBA officially locked out its players on July 1st, and since then progress has been slow. Even though, the sides have met continually this month to try and find a breakthrough, so far it has been to no avail.
Durant said while talking to News OK that NBA players are determined to stand their ground, even as he conceded things will get tough when pay checks are lost.
“Yeah, I can easily say that when nothing's been cancelled. That's kind of tough. But I think we are going to stick together. We want our voices to be heard. We don't want to give in. But it's going to be tough to miss some games and miss some time. But as players, we're going to try to stick this thing out as long as we can.”
Durant’s comments come in the light of increased pressure on the players. The NBA officially cancelled pre-season games and NBA training camps last Friday. The situation gave fuel to fears that a season delay is on the cards and NBA players could be forced to drop some of their demands in order to resolve the crisis.
The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) though believes that they have already done enough to entice the owners. They are apparently not willing to back down over principled stands on guaranteed contracts and the salary cap. Durant also described these issues as pivotal to any deal being struck.
“Security. Just knowing that you have a guaranteed contract. They're trying to bring the hard cap in there, and that's something that I think is not going to favour us so much as players.”
The Oklahoma City star is one of the biggest names in the league at the moment. Considered as one of the elite players in the NBA, Durant has won two back to back scoring championships in the last two seasons and his star is constantly on the rise. So, if he says something that certainly holds weight.
Some analysts have, in recent days, criticized star players for not coming to the forefront of the dispute and putting their weight behind the negotiations. The comments by Durant however would certainly help NBPA in its fight and give reassurances to the many young members of the players union.
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